No End In Sight As South Thai Rebellion Enters Fifth Year

[Scott]

This bombing sounds more sophisticated than some--and more targeted and deadly.

I don't know a lot about what is going on in the south, but it seems to be more a matter of the Malay majority against the state than a religious conflict, although religion plays a big part in this.

If the Democrats take the lead politically, is the situation likely to improve? Is there any concern that these militants might just move their fight toward BKK, especially since it appears that airports are lacking in security?

[sriracha john]

Pillion-rider shoots motorcyclist in South

A 24-year-old motorcyclist was shot three times in the neck and back by a pillion-rider gunman as he was returning home in Narathiwat province yesterday morning. Police in Sungai Padi district said the attack occurred on Jarusathien road in tambon Paluroo about 6am. The victim was Jehwang Licharoen from tambon Khokkhien of Muang district. Witnesses said the man was followed by two men on another motorcycle and was shot with an 11mm pistol. Police found seven spent shells at the scene. He was rushed to

Continued here:

http://www.bangkokpost.net/091208_News/09Dec2008_news08.php

[sriracha john]

School guards killed in south Thailand: police

Separatist militants shot dead three villagers and left three others seriously injured in a late night attack in Thailand's restive south, police said Saturday.

They said the three men, aged 35, 45, and 38, were working as volunteer guards outside a government-run elementary school in Yala province when an unknown number of armed militants arrived on a pick-up truck and began shooting at 11:30 pm (1630 GMT) Friday.

Three other people, including one woman, were hospitalised and remain in a critical condition. Two machine guns were seized after the attack, they said.

Schools and teachers are frequent targets of attacks in the Muslim-majority south because militants see the education system as an effort by Bangkok to impose Buddhist Thai culture on the mainly ethnic Malay region.

A report released by UNICEF (UN Children's Fund) on Thursday warned that children were in danger of continuing their parents' legacy of separatist violence if they were not safeguarded from daily dangers around them.

More than 3,500 people have been killed since separatist unrest erupted almost five years ago in Thailand's Muslim-majority south.

Last month, two bombs in Yala province wounded 74 people in one of the biggest attacks in the region.

- AFP / 1 hour ago

[sriracha john]

Rebel attacks kill four in Thai South

YALA, Thailand, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Three Muslim men and a Buddhist policeman were killed in two separate gun and bomb attacks in Thailand's far south, police said on Saturday, the latest violence in a five-year separatist rebellion.

A remote-controlled bomb left in front of a karaoke bar exploded on Saturday, killing one policeman and wounding two other officers and two civilians in Pattani, one of four southern provinces roiled by violence that has killed 3,200 since 2004.

In nearby Yala province, unknown gunmen shot dead three Muslim village security guards and wounded three others in an ambush late on Friday, police said.

The violence has ranged from drive-by shootings and bombings or beheadings, and appears to target both Buddhists and Muslims associated with the Thai state, such as police, soldiers, government officials and teachers.

Since it erupted in 2004, the rebels have never revealed themselves publicly or claimed responsibility for the violence, which has remained limited to the rubber-producing region.

[Scott]

And while Bangkok fiddles, the south burns.

[plachon]

And while Bangkok fiddles, the south burns.

Sadly, this is a conflict forgotten internally and compared to other flashpoints, internationally as well. Thailand want to pretend it is very much a local conflict and deal with it in the time honoured tradition of such things (keep it quiet and hidden from the general population, while dealing with it using poorly trained regulars and a death squad militia type approach). One thing is sure, this approach is doomed not only to failure but will also likely exacerbate the problem.

[Jai Dee]

Deputy village chief gun down at home

Narathiwat -- A deputy villager in Rusoh district was gundown in a gangland style in front of his house late Monday evening, while in the southernmost province, suspected insurgents shot dead three defence volunteers as they entered a fresh market on their motorbikes.

The victims were two men, aged 51 and 43, and a 42-year-old woman. A fourth villager was injured by a stray bullet and taken to hospital.

Source: The Nation - 16 December 2008

[Scott]

Hopefully, the situation will get the attention it needs with a new gov't and the people in the south will be more amenable the new gov't.

[sriracha john]

Juling Pongkanmul

Thai Film Delves Into Murky Muslim Insurgency

BANGKOK (Reuters / 2008-09-30) - Five years on, the insurgency in Thailand's mainly Muslim south continues to defy attempts to placate it and a new Thai documentary uses the brutal death of a young Buddhist art teacher to examine why.

"Citizen Juling," shown at the Toronto Film Festival this month, bills itself as "a road movie through Thailand's soul" but centers around the story of teacher Juling Pongkanmul, who was kidnapped and beaten by a group of Muslim women in 2006. She died, aged 24, after spending eight months in a coma.

Filmed during the last four months of the administration of now deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the film follows former opposition Senator Kraisak Choonhavan as he travels into Thailand's three southernmost provinces -- Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala -- to uncover the truth behind the teacher's death.

His trip, which also takes him to the northernmost reaches where Juling was born, sheds light on the violence and poverty fueling the unrest in a region wracked by a government campaign to stamp out a separatist insurgency that has resulted in more than 3,500 deaths since 2003.

A longtime critic of Thaksin, who was ousted in a 2006 coup, Kraisak says government attempts to root out the insurgency have only prolonged and strengthened it.

"We can blame the state for creating a horrific situation for the people there and opening the door for Islamic fundamentalists and terrorists to spread," he told Reuters said after a screening of the film in Bangkok last week.

"We have to first realize that these are people. You just can't go on killing them. You can't wipe out millions of people."

The crackdowns in the south under Thaksin have been condemned by international human rights groups, while the former prime minister has denied policies of extra-judicial killings.

Thailand has long grappled with the southern unrest, ranging from attempts to win "hearts and minds" through promises of development aid to crackdowns on suspected separatists.

"Citizen Juling" -- which runs for almost four hours -- details abuses against Muslim Thais, from the killing of a youth soccer team to a massacre at a mosque, and the futile attempts of survivors to win justice.

"You see how people are suffering and how their suffering has never been heard in conventional media and mass media," said photographer Manit Sriwanichpoom, who joined forces with his wife, artist Ing K, and Kraisak to make the film. "There is no feeling. But these are real people," he said.

Born in the northern province of Chiang Rai, idealistic teacher Juling went to Thailand's southernmost tip to teach children art. In May 2006, a group of Muslim women kidnapped and then brutally beat her. She sustained massive damage to her brain stem, her spine fractured in several places, during an attack Kraisak characterized as "a venting vendetta against the Thai state."

Unlike most documentaries, the film has no explicit narrative, a deliberate technique adopted by the film-makers who wanted the story to tell itself.

"A conventional journalistic approach to the editing would've resulted in a much shorter film by telling more and showing less," Ing, a former journalist, wrote in the film's synopsis.

"We wanted to allow people to be themselves instead of reducing them by soundbites, into mere representations of specific points of view."

==============================================================

Additional threads and posts on Ms. Juling

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Acharn-Jooli...101.html&p=

Acharn Jooling, A Young Teacher From Chiang Rai,, Victim of Southern violence (Rajabhat)

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Art-Exhibiti...500.html&p=

An Art Exhibition To Raise Funds For Juling Pongkanmoon To Be Held

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?s=...st&p=754192

Medical condition of beaten teacher worsens

3 Suspected Leaders of Southern Insurgency Group Arrested

Narathiwat police have cordoned off a house in Bukitbueroh Village and arrested three key members of the RKK insurgent group including Koree Sodoh, Yuso Yunu, and Matola Pohding. The three are suspected in an attack on a train in Suratthani Province, in which four officers were killed.

All three suspected were also involved in detaining and brutalizing a local school teacher, Juling Pongkanmoon, in Narathiwat Province, which led to her death on June 13, 2006.

- TOC / 2008-12-19

Edited December 19, 2008 by sriracha john

[sriracha john]

1 suspected insurgent killed, 4 others arrested

Narathiwat - A suspected insurgent was killed and four others were arrested following a shoot-out with police Friday.

The shoot-out happened at 10 am in Kampong Baru village in Tambon Rusoh of Rusoh district.

Some 30 policemen were deployed to a house behind the mosque of the village to gather more evidence for seeking an arrest warrant against an insurgent leader, Amdan Meroh, 35.

But when police arrived at the scene, five men opened fire at them.

The two sides exchanged gunfire for about 15 minutes after which Mahamamaso Phiakoh, 34 was found dead.

The four men initially fled the scene but were later rounded up after some 100, police, soldiers and Interior Ministry officials searched through the area.

- The Nation / 2008-12-19

[Jai Dee]

A more comprehensive draft law for deep South in the pipeline

Deputy Interior Minister Tavorn Senniem said Tuesday that the government is working out the final technical details of a comprehensive legislation that will consolidated existing agencies under a civilian-led administrative body to tackle the problem in the Muslim-majority deep south.

Tavorn said Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is sounding out various security and civilian agencies assigned to the restive region as the government puts together this draft law.

At the moment it has yet to be decided if the new agency will come directly under the prime minister or under the interior ministry, Tavorn said.

To give weight to the new agency, a council of ministers will oversees this administrative body, Tavorn said.

Source: The Nation - 06 January 2009

[MobileContent]

Please Khun Abhisit, ask the Sec. Gen. of ASEAN Khun Surin Pitsuwan to resign his post and make him the Special Envoy for the South. In addtition stop issueing border passes to Malaysian's and they must carry an international passport by the Malaysian government. 99.9% of all Malaysians that visit the South are good people but that 0.01% needs to be stopped and they have dual citizenship.

[Heng]

Still have to give kudos to the army and police for keeping the bad guys out of Central (and just about every other region) Thailand. If it takes turning a blind eye (and media blackout) to ILLEGAL killings, then so be it.

[samgrowth]

With Dems in charge now, I am sure the suituation will ease soon. Good luck Mark.

[Scott]

I hope your right about the situation easing, but I won't hold my breath. These insurgencies often have a life of their own and, like a fire, once ignited, they don't end until everything is burnt.